Line Magnetic owners...how quiet are they?

Ladok, I own the LM 211A. I've bought it from a fellow Audiogoner. I have been a longtime fan of SS, but wanted to get into tubes because I purchased Devore Gibbon 9's. The LM is remarkably quiet, and I'm thrilled of my decision to purchase one.

At first I was listening to Leben integrated, which I could easily afford, and to Shindo, which I didn't want to pay that steep of a price for, when I was told about LM and sold through the same distributor Tone Imports.

After doing some research, many comments I read were extremely positive, such as "the LM is a great solidly product," "A poor man's Shindo," etc. I had not heard the Shindo, but I did compare the LM and the Leben, and I preferred the LM "sound" which was fuller and richer to the slightly leaner sound of the Leben. BTW, the Leben's sounded great too, so don't misconstrue my comparison.

In fact I'm so happy with this unit, I may move up to the gold series myself. But before I do, I am planning on buying a quad of Genalex Lions for the amp portion of the LM. I hope this helps.

Never noticed any sound at all from my 211IA. I sit relatively close, as the system is in small, 11 X 12 ft space.

My 211IA is dead quite on 94db speakers, not a sound no tube rush nothing, even with my ear glued to the horn tweeter at full volume.

Excellent products IMO

"In fact I'm so happy with this unit, I may move up to the gold series myself. But before I do, I am planning on buying a quad of Genalex Lions for the amp portion of the LM. I hope this helps."

Agree with all the positive comments on the 211IA. I am very
happy mine. It is now driving 85DB-ish Spendors in a small den without issues. They do prefer Ultra linear over Triode.

Mrc: I assume you are talking about GL KT77's. I would double check with your dealer, but they should be ok. I an running SED Winged 34's, and Tungsol/Mullard New prod INPUT tubes. I have heard good things about the NEW Tungsol EL34's as well. Cheers -Don

Fjn04: I did check before purchasing the Genalex Gold Lions KT77's for the 211IA and they're a very good match with the LM. They replace the following type output tubes; EL34 and 6CA7.

I also agree with you regarding the Ultra Linear vs. the triode mode. I think the former just sounds "right" compared to the triode mode, which sounds a bit veiled.

Fjn04: I too heard good things about SED Winged 34's. Is it true though that SED factory closed? I read that on tubestore.com. I know they're still available, but is that true?

The Emotiva CMX-2 will eliminate hum. Or simply changing the stock rectifier to a new production Mullard and changing the stock 12ax7s to Psvane Treasure Series mk2. Doing these things, I eliminated all hum.

I own the Line Magnetic 518IA and it is near silent. I've read about buzz but I've not experienced it.

I'm an LM dealer, and have sold quite a few of the 518's.  Not had one yet with any hum issues.

FYI-- The 518 has hum balance adjusters on it, so if you do pick up any hum, you can try and adjust it out.

The whole LM line is really pretty awesome, with the 211, 518 and the all new 508 being the most popular units for me.

Ha...just noticed that the original post is from 2014....imagine that the OP has done something by now!  lol

I have a LM 216ia and I really luv it. It has been my first tube amp. It is very quiet. It is as quiet as my ss amp.

518IA is a sweet amp, swapped in NOS tubes except for the 845s, very musical, holds bias well, no hum issues whatsoever. 

I had a LM-216ia. It was not quiet -- it had an audible hum with my Focal Aria 936's and eventually sold it because I could not stand the hum.

I also put it on a scope and measured it. The amp had low THD, but the noise was on the order or a few mV. The transformers had a resonance around 250kHz, which manifested itself in a lot of ringing and overshoot when I tested the amp with square waves.

My take on Line Magnetic is: their amps look cool, but I really did not like their transformers and the humming.

I own a 508ia and experience no hum whatsoever. I have read of the odd number of users who experienced this issue with LM amps, however not at a rate higher than I hear regarding other manufacturers.